Mercury Pollution

The ruling is a step toward requiring the company to pay to clean up pollution from the former HoltraChem site – a cost estimated at $130 million. By Kevin Miller, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story A federal judge ordered Mallinckrodt Manufacturing Co. on Wednesday to pay to develop a detailed plan to clean… Continue Reading

By Dawn Gagnon, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story BANGOR, Maine — A federal court judge issued a ruling Wednesday ordering that an engineering firm be hired to develop a plan to clean up mercury deposited in the Penobscot River by a defunct Orrington chemical plant. HoltraChem, which operated from 1967 to 1982, produced… Continue Reading

By Jay Field MPBN news story Listen to full news story. ORRINGTON, Maine – A federal judge will order a team of engineers to devise options for cleaning up toxic mercury pollution in the Penobscot River stretching from the former Veazie Dam to the southern tip of Verona Island. HoltraChem, an Orrington-based chemical company, dumped… Continue Reading

Senator Saviello, Representative Welsh, and members of the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, my name is Sarah Lakeman and I am the Sustainable Maine Project Director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. I appreciate this opportunity to testify in opposition to LD 1045. While we oppose this bill, we do believe… Continue Reading

The former HoltraChem plant in Orrington released mercury that could wreak more havoc on the area’s fishery. By Tom Bell, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story For the opponents of the Searsport dredge project, mercury contamination is the big worry. Those concerns deepened in February when the Maine Department of Marine Resources closed seven… Continue Reading

By Darren Fishell, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Board of Environmental protection will permit the Dragon Cement plant in Thomaston to operate under federal emissions standards that raise the amount of mercury the plant could release into the air by 68 percent, as production increases. Marc Cone, head… Continue Reading

Statement of Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy Project Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine NRCM news release NRCM is deeply disappointed in today’s Board of Environmental Protection vote, which would allow the Dragon Cement Company in Thomaston to increase its emissions of toxic mercury by 70%, reversing nearly two decades of work by Maine to reduce… Continue Reading